{"id":132229,"date":"2022-11-04T17:07:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T21:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=132229"},"modified":"2022-11-23T15:20:09","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T20:20:09","slug":"he-helped-save-our-world-from-a-global-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/he-helped-save-our-world-from-a-global-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe Helped Save Our World from a Global Pandemic\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

COVID-19 was killing thousands a day worldwide, and humanity desperately needed a vaccine. Darin Edwards \u201997 \u201910MS \u201911PhD<\/a><\/strong> remembered the urgency he felt as he led the charge to create Moderna\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine: \u201cWe have to make this technology do what it can do. And we have to do it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards, a three-time UCF graduate, is Moderna’s director of immunology. Friday, he was the featured speaker at the College of Medicine\u2019s<\/a> third Dr. John C. and Martha Hitt Grand Rounds.<\/p>\n

Grand Rounds are a tradition at medical schools, where scientists and physicians gather to teach and learn from one another with the goal of increasing excellence in patient care. The Hitt Grand Rounds, named to honor UCF\u2019s former president and first lady, is made possible from an endowment by the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation. David Odahowski, Edyth Bush\u2019s president and CEO, credited Edwards with a scientific discovery that allowed Grand Rounds to be in-person this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a full house, thanks to you,\u201d Odahowsk said. \u201cYou\u2019ve put the \u2018grand\u2019 back into Grand Rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his presentation, Edwards talked about the scientific steps he and his small team took to create the vaccine. He said previous discoveries about messenger RNA \u2014 or mRNA \u2014 were the reason scientists could create a COVID-19 vaccine in 11 months. While most vaccines contain a weakened or dead bacteria or virus, mRNA vaccines use a different vehicle. They don\u2019t contain the pathogen so they can\u2019t make you sick. Instead, mRNA serves as a messenger that notifies the body to make a specific protein that signals the immune system to prevent or treat a specific disease.<\/p>\n

While COVID-19 brought increased public awareness to mRNA, scientists actually had been working on the technology for decades,  Edwards explained. When the COVID-19 virus\u2019 entire genetic makeup was published, \u201cWe had all we needed,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI had spent four years understanding mRNA. We knew the approach to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described how members of his team worked 12- and 16-hour days in the lab covered in protective gear to develop and test the vaccine. Each day he made calls from his home office to infectious disease experts worldwide and physicians and scientists with organizations like the National Institutes of Health. The Moderna team had to create a vaccine that was safe yet strong enough to be effective and in a way that could be mass-produced.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can make something,\u201d he said, \u201cbut if you can\u2019t manufacture it consistently, it\u2019s not one that can be medically effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mRNA vaccine effectively signaled the body\u2019s immune system to create antibodies to COVID-19 and then was out of a person\u2019s system in about 72 hours.<\/p>\n

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